“What Have They Done To The Rain?”  by Malvina Reynolds is the Peace Song of the Day for November 5th. I discovered it in a library book called A Folksong History of America by Samuel L. Forcucci. And, there the song was, in my Rise Up Singing songbook, on page 39.

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More about this choice:

The book A Folksong History of America praised this song for being such a beautiful and subtle protest song.

Comments attached to the Youtube video above explain more about the origins of the song, “It was originally written in 1962 as part of a campaign to stop aboveground nuclear testing, which was putting strontium-90 in the air, where it was washed down by the rain, got into the soil and thence to the grass, which was eaten by cows.When children drank the cows’ milk the strontium-90, chemically similar to calcium but radioactive, was deposited in their bones…”

The Duke and Duchess of Peace are against nuclear energy, nuclear testing, nuclear weapons, and the use of depleted uranium in weapons. In order to have peace on earth, we must protect our environment and our children from dangerous technology.

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The Peace Song of the Day is a project of Duke Augustus and Duchess Susanna, The Duke and Duchess of Peace. The Duke and Duchess recognize that one of the paths to peace is to find soulful and nonviolent entertainment, and to express oneself with art and song.